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Archive for December, 2007 Page 2 of 4
I purchased the Danby “designer” portable dishwasher, model number DDW1805W from Walmart.com for a little more than $300. I had it shipped free with Walmart’s “site to store” program (basically they ship the item from the warehouse to the store for you to pick up). Although free, this service is a bit slower than traditional shipping services, and definitely not perfect. The dishwasher box was received in damaged condition. The box itself had numerous holes and smashed corners, and the dishwasher was actually damaged during the shipping process - the back left wheel is bent so that it doesn’t stand level. This is a minor enough detail that I am not going to bother taking it back to the store to get a replacement. I am hoping that I am able to re-bend the metal on the wheel back to the original position, fixing the damage, but I am very disappointed that my order wasn’t able to arrive at the store undamaged. If I did decide to return the item, it would be a big hassle for me, so for now I am going to live with the damage.
On the up side, the order arrived when expected - the projected shipping time was given as 7 to 10 days, and it arrived in 10. Also on the up side, I had no problems picking up the product, and the store employees were quick in retrieving my item from the back storeroom.
This is the second time that I have used the site to store program at Walmart - the first time went very smoothly with no damaged products, but that order was only a DVD, and easier to handle.
Bottom Line: Walmart.com is able to ship items in a timely manner, and get them properly inventoried and ready to go at the store, but they can’t necessarily be trusted to ship large and oversized items safely.
Walmart’s Walmart.com Site to Store Shipping: 
2/5
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Today I had the pleasure of eating at Jay’s Bistro in downtown Fort Collins. It was an incredibly convenient place to eat lunch, because I happen to work in the offices next door. My boss and I decided to eat there for a lunch meeting - but we also decided that it might as well count as our “holiday party” too (it’s still quite a small company). This was my first dining experience at Jay’s, but I have heard a lot of positive things about them in the past, so I had high expectations. I was surprised by how many people were dining there for lunch, and the crowd made for a good atmosphere - the people gave the restaurant a warm, inviting, and energetic feeling.
We sat in a booth in the back corner of the restaurant, and even though there were plenty of people seated around us, it felt more private than most restaurant booths, and we were able to carry on a conversation without really hearing other people’s conversations. The atmosphere in Jay’s is very stylish, and they went a little overboard with their Christmas decorations (think formally dressed dolls), but it was warm and welcoming.
The staff were all very nice and polite. Our server gave us excellent service, he checked on us regularly to refill drinks and find out if we were doing well.
We were served freshly baked bread as an appetizer, and it was very soft, fluffy, and enjoyable. Included with the bread was a tray with plain butter, some sort of spicy butter, and what I think was a fruit jam. I tried the spicy butter and it was pretty good, but I didn’t try the jam.
The menu had a great variety of choices, so many good things in fact that I seriously had a hard time deciding between 2 or 3 different dishes, but I finally settled on “The New Yorker” ($9). The New Yorker is a sandwich described on the menu as, “Our popular Seasoned Corned Beef Reuben with Housemade Sauerkraut, Gruyere Cheese on Pumpernickel with Russian Dressing and Fries” (check out the website menu). 
I believe my sandwich had marble rye bread, and not pumpernickel, but it was delicious anyway. The corned beef was seasoned very well, and tasted great. Although I am usually not a fan of sauerkraut (even on ruebens), it was the perfect compliment to this sandwich, and it had a unique taste. The gruyere cheese was very melty and added a lot to the sandwich, as did the russian dressing. Overall, this sandwich was the perfect combo of quality ingredients, and every bite was scrumptious. The fries were a good compliment to the sandwich, they were seasoned well, and didn’t even require salt. I ate everything on my plate, and even though my appetite was satisfied, I was left craving more.
My boss ordered Linguini with Clams, which she described as, “very, very good.” We decided not to get any dessert, as we were both too full to eat any, but I would love to return to Jay’s sometime in the near future to try their famed chocolate raviolis.
This isn’t necessarily a cheap place to eat for lunch, all the entrees ranged from $8 to about $13, but it was definitely worth the experience, especially since the business paid for my meal :) I plan to go back to Jay’s in the coming months to experience their dinner menu as well, and I will give you all an update when I do.
Atmosphere: 4/5 (would be a 5, if the creepy christmas dolls weren’t sitting above my table)
4/5 (would be a 5, if the creepy christmas dolls weren’t sitting above my table)
Service: 5/5
Food: 5/5
Price: 3/5 (slightly pricey for lunch)
Overall Rating:
Have you ever been to Jay’s? What did you think? Have any restaurant recommendations for me?
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This is my second “office products” review - the first was for my Fellowes brand storage boxes, and now I am reviewing a Fellowes W11C paper shredder. It may seem that I have some deal with Fellows to write reviews of their products, but I promise it’s just random coincidence that I keep buying their stuff. Luckily for them, so far I’ve only bought their quality products.
It may seem a bit crazy, but I love owning a paper shredder, and the W11C is a good one. For the past few years, I would spend a few minutes every time I got identity-theft-sensitive junk mail tearing them into pieces - a task that is easy enough to do, but not nearly as satisfying as dropping a unopened credit card offer envelope into a shredder and watching it get chopped into 1,000 pieces. This shredder is capable of shredding 11 sheets at a time, and doesn’t seem to have any problems with destroying entire envelopes at once. Not only is it helping me keep myself safer, but it’s giving me more free time, one bit at a time. I would tell you how much it cost, but I received it as a gift (thanks Crystal) - many online retailers list it for around $50 - it’s not necessarily a steal, but it’s a decent price for a shredder with the abilities and features that the W11C has.
As I mentioned before, the Fellowes W11C is a powerful shredder, especially for a home-use small-size shredder. It is able to handle things that weaker shredders can’t like credit cards and staples. It cuts things into confetti-cut pieces, much more thorough and smaller than a lot of shredders of the same size and value. On the other hand, it is a loud shredder - louder than others I’ve used - but it has the excuse that it is powerful to make up for the noise.
I like the fact that this shredder comes with a opening to the trash bin, so that it can be a dual purpose shredder and office trash.
Shredding Ability: 5/5
5/5
Price: 4/5
Features: 4/5
Ease of Use: 5/5
Overall Rating: 
Do you enjoy shredding papers as much as I do?
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This is a “blog feedback” post. To learn more about my blog feedback category, please visit the Blog Feedback section. Below are a few reviews of other blogs. I would like to thank the blog owners for submitting their blogs for reviews.
Blog #1
Why Buy Used Cars
http://www.whybuyusedcars.com/
First Impressions: Why buy used cars? Are you sure this is a blog? When first landing on this site, almost everything about it makes me think I have found a used car sales site. The domain doesn’t seem fitting for a blog, and the look and feel of the blog (especially the header) make me feel like I am not at a blog, but rather a marketplace for used cars. Because I am familiar with the components of a blog, I was able to realize after just a few seconds that I actually was on a blog, but I am not sure the casual visitor will make this distinction quickly enough.
Aesthetics: As I mentioned before, your look and feel reminds me of cars.com or something similar. Getting past this obvious abnormality, I do like your theme, although it is a bit plain and white. Your sidebar isn’t necessarily overcrowded, which is good, and you use plenty of visuals in your posts, which helped me stay interested in the content.
I might suggest moving your “tabs” to a more prominant location, if possible - they are lost among the icons strung out above the header. If you can’t move them, you might consider taking out the icons, or giving the tabs a more defining color scheme, or both.
Content: I am happy to see that you have very focused niche content - it is well written, and interesting enough for the non-gear-head to read (me for example). It did take me a trip to your “About” section before I was 100% clear on the goals of your blog, but the posts were readable either way.
Overall: While initially confusing, this blog has a few good things going for it. You might consider spicing up your theme a bit, and visually highlighting the fact that you are indeed a blog, so as to not befuddle new visitors. Keep the good content coming, and you will likely find your audience.
Blog #2
Chicken Fried Therapy
http://www.chickenfriedtherapy.blogspot.com/
First Impressions: I like the name “Chicken Fried Therapy” without ever seeing the blog - it’s a catchy name. I like your header image a lot, it seems someone put some effort into it, and it works. Beyond the header, why is everything else so bland and boring?
Aesthetics: As I mentioned, the header is great. The rest of the blog need more styling to match, though. There is a complete lack of color and almost no defining lines or boundaries on anything in your blog - it seems way too simple when you have such a nice header. Even a simple and very minor color scheme to compliment the colors found in the header would do your blog wonders. Giving the sidebar definition so it doesn’t blend in with the main content column would be a great move.
Content: You seem to have a purpose in your blogging, and your writing is good, so I can’t really suggest a whole lot of improvements as far as content is concerned. I will suggest that you might want to find out how to wrap the post text around your images, as images above the post text seem to somehow detach them from the text context.
Overall: The only thing you should really focus on and improve is your blog’s visual experience. I imagine you know this already, but as a starting point I would suggest taking colors from your header image and incorporating them in different places in your blog (link text color, backgrounds, etc). Or, if you aren’t sure or are unable to do something like that, you might be able to find a good free theme that matches your feel. Of course, blogging isn’t about the looks, but it sure does help to have a decent looking presentation for your well written thoughts.
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For my first slow cooker meal I decided to buy a frozen pre-made crock-pot meal, instead of coming up with a good recipe. While I enjoy cooking, and appreciate good recipes, I am also incredibly lazy at times, especially when it comes to the kitchen (just take a look at the huge pile of dishes in my kitchen sink, and you’ll know what I mean). Also, I wanted to test out the slow cooker without getting overly complicated, and I have had my eye on the Banquet Crock-pot Classics meals for a while now - it was the perfect chance to try one out. I bought the Herb Chicken and Rice meal for around $5.
I was surprised that the cook time was 8-10 hours, but I was satisfied to know that I wouldn’t be in the kitchen at all during the cook time, and instead I would be enjoying life at work. I was able to throw the ingredients in the cooker before I left for work, and it was timed perfectly to be done cooking for dinner. The preparation in the morning was very easy and took less than 5 minutes - all I had to do was empty a packet of herbs and spices into the cooker, put in some water, stir, and then add all the contents of the bag except for the rice (this included a variety of vegetables, and chicken chunks) and leave them to cook on “low.” When I got home from work I added the rice to the pot, and 35 minutes later it was a delicious and hot meal.
This meal turned out very good - the herbs and spices were perfect, the chicken was tender, and the vegetables added good variety. Even left over a few days later, this meal was very satisfying to eat. The only downsides were, the carrots seemed slightly overcooked, and I had to add a lot of salt (of course, I over-salt everything).
For $5 I think this is a very economical and easy meal to make - but I imagine if I gathered the ingredients myself, it could turn out a bit cheaper, and possibly a bit tastier, but I’m not sure it would be worth the extra effort. Basically, this is the perfect lazy-man’s meal - and it’s especially nice to be able to eat something warm and comforting during this cold and very snowy winter (does anyone know why it has to start snowing again, immediately after I finish shoveling the sidewalk?).
Since my first experience was so easy, and tasty, I imagine that I will probably continue to buy these meals periodically, and I will likely test out all of the available recipes eventually. Look for my reviews of the rest of the available recipes in the future!
Convenience: 5/5
5/5
Taste: 4/5
Price: 4/5
Overall Rating:
Think you have what it takes to make me actually put some effort into my slow cooker meals? Hit me with your best recipes, and I might decide to try one out.
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